March 4, 2025
by Stephen T. Messenger
In 333 B.C. Alexander the Great marched with his Army into Gordium, the capital of Phrygian and modern-day Turkey. There he found a wagon with a rope around the yoke entangled so tightly and intricately that it was hard to tell where the rope began or ended. The locals quickly told him that whoever could unfasten these knots would become the ruler of Asia.
According to tradition, the wagon belonged to Gordius, a peasant of the region and father of King Midas. While plowing the fields, an eagle landed on the yoke of his wagon. Thinking it may be a sign from the gods, he consulted a local Telmessian prophetess who told him to make a sacrifice to Zeus. Gordius did so quickly and married the woman.
From here, the story takes two different paths. In one, Gordius travelled into the city with his bride and fulfilled the prophesy that their new king would ride in on an ox cart. In another account, their son Midas rode into town and was anointed king.
Either way, the father or son paid tribute to the gods by offering the wagon and yoke tied with an unsolvable knot to the Temple of Zeus. Whoever could untie it would be destined to conquer Asia. Many tried and failed.
When Alexander heard the story, he was overcome with an unstoppable urge to release the knot. At 23 years old, he was already the King of Macedon and moving West to consolidate power. After struggling with the ropes and unable to make any progress, he stepped back and shrugged, “It makes no difference in how they are loosed.” He pulled his sword and cut the ropes clean with one stroke.
In another telling, he pulled the lynchpin holding together the cart, rope, and yoke which relieved the tension leading to an easy solution. Regardless of the way Alexander undid the Gordian Knot, the locals praised him for solving this riddle. That night, the city experienced a severe thunderstorm, and the army saw this as the gods being pleased with their king. Over the next nine years, Alexander lived up to the prophesy by conquering most of Asia to northwest India.
The Modern-Day Gordian Knot
Today, the term Gordian Knot represents an impossible and intricate puzzle that seems unsolvable. It’s used to help us envision a way to solve an intractable problem other than the way everyone else has already tried. While Alexander used brute force, the Gordian Knot does not represent taking a hammer to every nail but instead finding a solution when others believe it is impossible.
We experience these problems every day in our life and through a global view. It’s too easy to look at the news and see countless Gordian Knots tangled in politics, national debt, Ukraine, artificial intelligence, and ethics to name a few. These are complex issues that often have no solution nor beginning or end. These knots are tied forever and while we may loosen one strand slightly, another retracts. After all, no one can win history.
In our own lives, we also encounter Gordian Knots. Our work has countless issues that others have tried and failed to solve. We can wonder the halls and hear the veterans of the organization talking about how “We’ve already tried that” and “It’s the way we’ve always done it.” People have been pulling at the same knot for decades before we arrived and now walk by the cart in the middle of the city, no longer attempting to pull at the cords.
As a new leader in an organization years ago, I can remember asking why we had two groups of people performing the same tasks in isolation. I was promptly told of how countless leaders have come and gone asking the same question. Like the Mandalorian chant, “This is the way,” they continued to inefficiently pull at the knot without a solution. By the time I left, we consolidated functions and streamlined the process making “the way” cede to a more efficient way. This Gordian Knot did not require a sword, but an assessment and action.
Play-Doh wrestled with its own Gordian Knot in the 1950s. The company originally called Kutol Products sold clay as a cleaner in the 1930s to remove wallpaper stains from indoor coal stove residue. As oil and gas furnaces solved indoor heating leaving the need for coal residue cleaner behind, Kutol considered folding its company. It would have been easy to look at this problem and give up pulling at the strings. However, the owners heard of a schoolteacher using Kutol clay for arts and crafts. The company rebranded to Play-Doh, added color, and have sold over three billion cans since.
We all encounter impossible problems in our lives. Some result in a tied yoke, inefficiency, collapsed businesses, or other problems. Try having a teenager to truly understand a Gordian Knot. We often have to attack these problems in ways other than continuing to pull like everyone else. When we encounter these knots, it’s important to compose ourselves, look at the problem from different ways, and poke the system.
1. Take a Deep Breath. Impossible problems are frustrating. How quickly do we give up on a friendly riddle when someone asks, “How do you keep a rhino for charging?” The first thing to remember is that we can solve any problem or at least make a difference. Too often we quit before we even try, especially when everyone else has already given up and left it to us. Simply stepping back, taking a deep breath, and clearing the air makes a difference.
2. Look at the Problem from All Angles. Alexander’s knot was so confusing he didn’t see a beginning nor end. Often looking at the problem in different ways, with different tools, through different people can help us solve it. In my example above, I in no way solved the problem. I leveraged incredibly smart, newer people to the organization who weren’t ingrained yet in the culture to come up with solutions. Often the best way to look at a problem is from a new perspective.
3. Try Many Different Solutions. One characteristic of a complex problem is that when we poke the system, it changes the system. Often, we must try to solve the problem in many different ways before solutions become apparent. It takes deep thought into the problem along with trial and error to see how the system responds. Alexander tried pulling the ropes, removing the lynchpin, and then cutting the ropes. Kutol considered multiple avenues to solvency. Finally, stopping a rhino from charging is a tough problem that may only be solved by taking away its credit card.
Ultimately, we face many Gordian Knots in our lives. They are seemingly impossible problems that cannot be solved, yet with patience, deep thought, and trial and error, we can certainly make headway on many issues if not solve them completely. Alexander the Great and Kutol understood that there are other ways to find solutions besides the traditional ones. It just takes a little thought sometimes to get the knot apart.
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